In Your Neighbourhood

When you least expect it, stuff happens

SIDEBAR

Somewhere in the unwritten law of averages it is known that your vehicle’s battery will ‘die’ at the wrong place, wrong time – or both. Clearly, there is never a good time to discover that your battery has no charge. Instead, you are greeted with the sound of an electronic starter attempting a mechanical miracle and that too starts to fade the more times you turn the key in the ignition.

While this is something your preferred auto dealer like Halton Honda would ordinarily look after, it is something that almost anyone can attend to – with a minimum of skill. A little patience and thought will win the day.

Sweet talk a friendly neighbour and armed with a set of jumper cables bought as insurance years before… here’s what you will need to do to breathe new life into the seemingly dead battery.

• Remove any terminal covers and corrosion off the ‘dead’ and the ‘good’ battery and then attach the positive (red) jumper cable to the positive terminal of the dead battery.

• Attach the other end of the positive jumper cable to the positive terminal of the assisting battery.

• Next attach the negative (black) jumper cable to the negative terminal of the good battery – and then attach the other end of the negative jumper cable to an exposed metal part of the disabled vehicle as a ground.